Abstinence Top Ten . . . Ways I Achieved Abstinence My sponsor asked me if I was willing to stop throwing up. I said yes and made a commitment. I knew that if I wasn’t going to throw up anymore, then I needed to quit bingeing too. God gave me the willingness and ability to keep my commitment. He continued to do so every day for the past twenty-three and … Read More
Steps Reading the Steps Aloud Q. As a recovering anorexic/bulimic, I’ve been encouraged over the past thirty years by the addition of more inclusive wording in our literature, such as the phrase “compulsive food behaviors.” Has any thought been given to gender-neutral modifications to the Twelve Steps? When I read them, I say: “care of God/Higher Power as we understand that Higher Power” and “Humbly … Read More
Abstinence Clear and Free God has blessed me with more than twenty-five years of abstinence, and I am still grateful every day. The most important day for me to be abstinent is today. I was in OA seven years before I got abstinent, and I’ve been abstinent ever since, praise be to my HP. During those seven years, I experimented with abstinence and also … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Not So Ridiculous I’ve been recovering in Overeaters Anonymous for more than thirty five years. I came to OA as a teen, having been bulimic for several years and unable to be truthful with myself. I felt I was unable to survive on the structured plan of eating available in OA at the time, so I left. I returned in 1980, pitifully and incomprehensibly … Read More
Higher Power No More Hiding I have a vivid recollection of a moment early in recovery: I’d just arrived at an OA meeting, a regular meeting I considered “home.” On the way to this meeting, I’d binged. Before exiting my car, I was fearfully and intently stuffing my wrappers and trash into the armrest storage space. And though I was alone in my car, I … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Sticking with It When I joined OA twenty years ago, I wasn’t interested in physical recovery. I needed help with my out-of-control emotions and relationships, but I was too scared to start from scratch in any Twelve Step fellowship for emotions and relationships. I was anorexic, so I could go every week to OA meetings (instead of once a month to “open” meetings of … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Different Bodies, Similar Reasoning Look for the similarities, not the differences.” How grateful I am to have gotten that message straightaway when I walked in the doors of OA. It was out of desperation that I had to do this, because the only alternative was going to be death. I came to OA looking different than most, weighing in at 42–47 kilograms (93–99 lbs), … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics Diversity Light and Color I came to OA at age 25 with only 10 to 15 pounds (5 to 7 kg) to lose. That was twenty-six years ago. Before OA, there was darkness: guilt, remorse, shame, fear, paranoia. I built a wall to protect me. I even wore mostly black. I was bingeing, purging, and starving. I was smoking, drinking, and using drugs. There … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Most of All, Hope I grew up as an only child with alcoholic overeaters for parents. For the first seventeen years of my life, I dealt with two drunken “rageaholics” acting crazy. I never knew what would happen. I walked around in sheer panic and terror, afraid my parents would divorce, afraid Mom would drink herself to death, afraid Dad would kill someone on … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Sponsored Help I arrived in OA a raging bulimic, underweight, and with a self-image that suggested my body was larger than my home state. I was suicidal because I did not believe I could escape this madness of food-obsession and self-obsession. At the first meeting I attended in October 2000, I met an OA member who had what I wanted. She agreed to be … Read More
